John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down Gets A Very Cool 25-Year-Old Director

Turtles All the Way Down has found its director! Hannah Marks has been selected to helm the movie adapted from John Green‘s latest novel — and she’s going to make some history in the process. At just 25 years old, Marks is set to become one of the youngest female studio directors ever.

Of course, it makes sense that Green and company would want a youthful eye behind the camera for Turtles, since its story is firmly situated within the YA genre. The bestseller, which hit bookshelves in October 2017, is about Aza, a 16-year-old with OCD who attempts to solve a mystery surrounding fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett.

Marks already boasts a very cool résumé. She made her feature directorial debut with After Everything, which was instantly adored by critics after its South by Southwest premiere in 2018. Marks also has a number of acting credits, including a starring role in the 2018 indie rom-com Banana Split alongside Dylan Sprouse. Making her a true triple-threat in the film industry, Marks also wrote both of those movies.

And just in case that isn’t enough to convince you that this movie has great potential, here’s something else: Love, Simon scribes Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker wrote the Turtles screenplay.

The news has been a long time coming. It’s been over a year since Green first announced that he was in early discussions with Fox 2000 — the studio behind Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars — to adapt his latest novel into a big-screen experience. Hopefully this latest bit of information indicates that everyone is ready to move forward (quickly!) on the project.

But if not, the Turtles adaptation is just one bit of upcoming visual content from Green that we can get excited about. In October, Hulu’s Looking for Alaska series found its two leads in Charlie Plummer (as Miles) and Kristine Froseth (as Alaska). Then, in December, Netflix announced plans to make Let It Snow — the novel he wrote alongside Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle — into a Christmas rom-com, due out at the end of this year.